YOKED TO A BILLIONAIRE BY VENNEH LISAH

𝐘𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐀 𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐄

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐘-𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄:

Ryan's eyes dipped as he went silent, as though deep in contemplation.

Jason was conversely anxious. "That's right. grandpa really likes us, so I'm sure he would be more than happy to learn that we are his grandson's children."

"Does that mean we can't call him grandpa anymore? Eliana asked.

"Seems like it," Jason said while he tilted his head. "The kindergarten books mentioned that daddy's grandpa is called great-grandfather."

"Ah, are we to address grandpa Roman as great-grandpa then?" Eliana's eyes widened in curiosity. "That doesn't have the same ring to it."

"Yeah, it doesn't." Jason was all business when he expounded on that, "Grandpa is daddy's grandpa, not ours."

"Oh." Eliana nodded, unsure as to whether she actually understood.

"Is there anything else you would like to know?" Davon asked Ryan.

"Would you be marrying Mommy?" the boy asked as he raised his head.

"Of course I will," Davon replied without hesitancy. "I'll start preparation as soon as grandpa comes from the hospital."

"Hooray!" Eliana cheered with her hands raised high. "I want to be the flower girl."

"Me too, me too." Jason chimed in. "I want to invite my friends from kindergarten to attend daddy and mommy's wedding."

"That's wonderful. I'd like to extend invitations to some of our old neighbors," Mrs. Blake spoke excitedly. "And a few of Mr. Milan's former bodyguards who had taken care of us, as well as others."

"No problem. We'll invite all of them." Jason thumped on his own chest. "Let me make the arrangements."

"Me too. I want to invite a few friends too." Eliana added as she did not want to be left out. "There's the teachers...''

The children went back and forth to no end as they fervently started getting into details about the wedding already.

Mrs. Blake uninhibitedly partook in it. Even the dozing Finny had been jolted to wakefulness. "Me too. Me too."

That put a smile on Violla's face. She extended her hands towards Ryan when she saw the boy looking worrisome. "Come here, you!"

Ryan slid off the couch and approached.

Violla pulled him into her embrace and kissed his forehead. "Do you have any other concerns, Ryan?"

"Go ahead and speak your mind." Davon looked at him with gentle eyes.

Ryan took a moment to think. "Marriage seems like a complicated affair. Marriage into a wealthy family, even more so. There are some things that I don't understand and cannot predict, so I keep having this feeling that things won't go swimmingly… Should you encounter any difficulty, would you give up on mommy and on us?"

"I won't." Davon ran his fingers through the boy's slight wavy curls. "There's no quitting in my books! Come what may, I'll let nothing stand in my way."

Ryan's eyes sparkled. Such awe-inspiring confidence really resonated with him. That had him nodding furiously. "Yes, I believe you!"

"Let's shake on it." Davon had learned how to communicate with children. He heard that to them, a pinky promise held the same validity as a legal agreement.

Ryan immediately linked fingers with him. "Pinky, pinky, a hundred years to test. Whoever turns is a b**tard's ass!"

"I want to do it too." Eliana ran over to join in when she saw Davon and Ryan at it. "I want a thumb seal!"

"Me too." Jason limped over as well.

"Done!" Davon did the pinky promise sealed with their thumbs and swore to marry Violla against all odds and give them all a blissful and warm place to call home.

The sight of that family of five reduced Mrs. Blake to a sobbing mess. In her heart, she thought: 'Miss has finally found herself a good man she could lean on, Mr. Milan .You can finally rest easy now.'

"Okay, will you call me pops now?" Davon wanted so much to hear the children hail him as their father. Never before in his life had he gone to that length to please anyone.

He had his office lined with books on parenting, and invested time and effort whenever possible to research into how to interact with children.

All that work just to convince those three little imps to willingly acknowledge him.

"I don't want to." Eliana pouted.

Ryan and Jason rescinded their own attempts when they saw their sister express her unwillingness.

"Is something wrong?" Davon asked cautiously.

It could very well be the first time he had tried to be careful about what he said.

"Pops doesn't sound nice." Eliana tilted her head innocently. "I prefer Daddy."

"Yes. Yes…" Jason went along and said. "If we address our mother as Mommy, we should also call you daddy."

"Then daddy it is," Ryan declared with finality.

"Uh huh," Jason and Eliana concurred with a nod.

The trio exchanged looks between themselves before they looked at Violla, and Davon.However, none of them opened their mouth.

Davon had his head in his hands. He yearned for them to hail him, but it seemed that much harder than he could have imagined.

"Well, hurry it up." Even Mrs. Blake got impatient. Violla merely smiled silently.

"On three." Eliana waved her hand like an orchestral conductor. "One, two, three!"

"Daddy...." The endearing qualities of their three voices were amplified loud and clear when they shouted in unison.

Davon's heart almost melted. He then drew them into his arms.He wanted very much to kiss them the way Violla did, but he did not know how.

"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy." The children crowded around Davon as they kept calling, and even snuggled close to smother him with kisses.

Finny was startled from her slumber and beat her wings until she landed on top of the man's head. "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!"

Overwhelmed by their fiery passion, he was at a righteous loss.

"Ha, this is just beautiful to behold." The scene had Mrs. Blake smiling from ear to ear. Violla, however, was in tears.

She felt truly blessed for having something that she could not have imagined before coming to fruition so quickly.

If only she could continue to stay in that perfect moment. That was when a sharp pain shot up her right arm. It crept upwards until it reached her shoulders and then radiated outwards from there.

In an attempt to mask her discomfort, she picked up a cushion and pressed it against her arm.

The pain grew increasingly intense, as though there were tens upon thousands of ants gnawing at her blood vessels until it verged on exploding.

Unable to withstand it no more, Violla abruptly stood up and took refuge in the washroom.

"Huh?" The children were astounded when they turned to look in her direction. "What's up with Mommy?"

"I guess she might be overjoyed." Jason clambered onto the couch and threw himself onto Davon's broad shoulders. "Carry me, Daddy!"

"Okay." As his focus was on the kids, he paid little mind to it. However, he was concerned enough to turn to Mrs. Blake. "Could you kindly check on her?"

"Alright." She nodded and smiled as she got to her feet. "I'm sure all the excitement must have been a little too much. She probably went in to dry her eyes."

"Mommy's wept till she got snot on her." Little Eliana imitated the way Violla cried. "Like this, boo hoo!"

"Don't do that. Bad Eliana," Ryan chided.

The little girl made a face at him before she ducked into the safety of Davon's arms. "Hold me, Daddy!"

"Looks like it's time. Let's go for lessons."

With one clinging on his back, a second nestled in his arm, and a third tugging him along by the hand, Davon was like a tree overrun by monkeys as he strode forth.

He turned his head toward Mrs. Blake. "Please let Violla know that we'll be in the study."

"Will do," Mrs. Blake replied. She watched them leave before she rapped on the washroom door. "Miss. Are you alright, Miss?"

"I'm fine." Violla was pallid as she hunched over the sink. In spite of being in no small measure of agony, she did her best to compose herself. "I might have the runs, so you should go up first. I'll be out in a minute."

"No worries. I'd be right here with you." Mrs. Blake remained concerned. "Did you have too much to eat at dinner? I'll go get you a glass of warm water."

"Okay." After she heard the footsteps depart outside, Violla slumped down seated on the floor. Beads of sweat ran ceaselessly down her forehead.

She bit down on her lip until they were close to bleeding.

The excruciating pain continued to permeate. There was nothing visibly wrong with her right shoulder, only the sensation of gnawing on her blood vessels.

It dawned on her that the injection that that woman gave her must be more than just a sedative.

The substance inside might had been some form of toxin so subtle that it was undetectable even to Immaculate.

"How are you doing, Miss?" Mrs. Blake hollered from the outside.

"I'm okay," Violla said with a deep furrow. "It may take a while more, so you should go."

"Alright. I'll leave it on the table for you. Do take some medication if you are still not feeling well," the older woman said.

"Got it." Violla did her best to sound calm.

Mrs. Blake exited.

Violla continued to be tormented by pain for another half an hour before it fully subsided.

After she struggled onto her feet, she splashed water on her face. She then downed a few mouthfuls from the glass on the table when she came out.

Jason's coat and one of Eliana's shoes were left on the couch. She felt conflicted as she reminisced about the heartwarming scene from a moment ago.

A few knocks on the door were followed by Immaculate's voice. "May I come on, Miss Milan?"

"Please come in," came Violla's swift reply.

The doctor pushed through the door with a medical bag in hand. "Mrs. Blake told me that you were experiencing some discomfort in your abdomen. Could you describe it to me? Let's see if we have any medication here suitable for you."

"It's alright." Violla shook her head. "I guess I must have had indigestion from overeating. After visiting the washroom, I'm feeling much better already."

"That's good to know." Immaculate gave her a pack of medicine anyway. "Have some of these digestive tablets that I've formulated myself. I'm sure they'll be of help."

"Thank you." Violla took two of that and meaningfully asked, "Mrs. Blake and my friend's mother are your patients, and I've also heard from doctors in other hospitals that you have quite the reputation as a medical practitioner."

"I might be the best there is,if that does not come across as being too full of myself. Haha." Immaculate was quite confident of her own competency in her chosen profession.

"Does that mean to say that no one would be able to treat what you can't?" Violla probed.

"That depends." The doctor adopted a more objective stance. "Some procedures may be better handled by my peers with the relevant expertise, as there are limits to what anyone could be good at. Though I'm able to diagnose most ailments, there will always be doctors from my hospital who I could call on."

"I see." Violla found it troubling that even someone with Immaculate's capability could not figure out what was inside of her.

"Miss Milan ! Miss Milan!" Immaculate's calls interrupted her train of thoughts.

Violla then tried to change the subject. "I'll be leaving Mrs. Blake and Olympia's mother in your hands."

"Don't worry, I will take care of them." Immaculate nodded. "How's your stomach now? Are you feeling better?"

"Very much so," Violla replied with a slight smile. "I think I should be heading up now. Thank you again."

"You're welcome. Feel free to approach me anytime." Immaculate picked up her bag and left.

Violla got her head in order before she walked upstairs.

The door to the study was slightly ajar. She was able to see Davon instructing Ryan on some technological concepts from her position just outside.

The boy's brows were knitted in intense focus, much like Davon's.

Jason and Eliana were by their side. They must not have understood what was being shared as the girl wandered off to fiddle with her Barbie doll in a pink tent at the side, while the younger boy, too, started to play with Finny on the couch.

"You're an absolute genius!" Davon was pleasantly surprised to discover Ryan's talents. "I was six when I started getting involved with technology. You're already ahead of me at just three years old!"

"Really?" Ryan was delighted. He used to enjoy chatting to his mother about those while she was still able to engage him adequately then. It, however, did not take long before his knowledge base surpassed hers.

As others in the family were even less informed, Ryan was without tutelage and made little progress researching on his own.

He was in his element and able to advance in leaps and bounds the moment D'barl gifted him a computer and enrolled him in online lessons.

However, the efficacy of remote sessions could not compare with that of live instruction. It seemed that Ryan was able to pick things up more easily and quickly, as it showed during Davon's first attempt.

Both father and son were tremendously pleased and felt a great sense of accomplishment.

"Uncle Davon…" Ryan blurted.

"What?" Davon reminded him with an eyebrow raised.

"I mean daddy." The boy immediately rectified himself with a blush on his little cheeks. Perhaps consistently hailing the man as such would still take some of getting used to. "With regards to the development of your company's new product, I have a few suggestions. Could you take me to observe the design process?"

"Of course I could." Davon nodded. "I'll take you down to the office tomorrow."

"Ah? To the office?" Ryan felt slightly overwhelmed. "Would that be okay? I was just thinking."

"Why wouldn't it be?" Davon patted the boy's head with pride. "You're my son. One day, you'll be taking over my place at the helm of the company. The sooner you are able to get up to speed, the sooner you could join me in running things together!"

"Yeah." Ryan nodded. His beautiful eyes beamed with radiance.

Violla's lips lifted into a smile. She felt that that was the version of Ryan which he really wanted for himself.

Her coming back to the Roman had proven to be the right decision for the children.

"Beep! Beep!" Jason flipped himself up from the couch the second the alarm sounded. "Time's up for Ryan, Daddy. It's my turn."

"Alright." Davon closed the laptop before turning to the older boy. "You can go rest up now."

"I still want to read on." Ryan took the device and continued what he was going before at the side.

"You're very diligent." Davon curled his lips. "Don't you want to learn martial arts together with your brother?"

"Nah, I'm not interested in that." Ryan's eyes were fixated on the screen. "Man can create invincible weapons with his intelligence. No martial arts would be able to stand against that."

"I beg to differ, as there are things that machines cannot overcome," Jason retorted. "What's more, the practice of martial arts can strengthen the body. Surely that's something that machines cannot replicate?"

"A reasonable point." Davon thought aloud with interest.

"Which one of us were you referring to, daddy?" Jason eagerly wanted to validate himself.